JP2638880B2 - Endoscope imaging system - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an imaging system for an endoscope that performs image processing using a solid-state imaging device camera.

[Prior art] An endoscope forms an optical image of an observation target portion on an eyepiece portion,
An optical type is used, which is configured so that it can be visually recognized by touching the eyepiece and that recording can be performed by connecting a camera to the eyepiece. In recent years, an electronic endoscope has been put to practical use in which an image of an observation target portion is photographed using a solid-state imaging device camera. This electronic endoscope is provided with an imaging unit having an imaging device such as a CCD at the distal end of an insertion unit, and performs photoelectric conversion by forming an optical image of an observation target unit on the imaging device, and converts this signal. The video signal is transmitted to the signal processing means, the video signal is formed by the signal processing means, and the video signal is input to a display device such as a CRT so that the video signal is reproduced by the display device and the image recording device such as a video tape recorder. Thus, the recording of the video data can be performed. Some optical endoscopes can perform image processing similar to that of an electronic endoscope by connecting an imaging unit of a solid-state imaging device camera to an eyepiece.

Thus, as described above, the electronic endoscope using the solid-state imaging device camera allows a plurality of persons to observe at the same time by reproducing the image of the observation target portion with the display device,
It also has excellent features such as being able to record in the form of moving images.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Here, in order to store video data by the above-described image recording device, a switch for starting recording is provided on the image recording device side or the operation unit main body of the endoscope. The image recording apparatus is operated by operating this switch. However, if an image is recorded by operating a switch, there is a disadvantage that a necessary recording may be forgotten due to carelessness or the like.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope imaging system capable of reliably preventing forgetting to record an image on an image recording apparatus. is there.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides a method of lighting a light source and starting recording of image data on a recording medium of an image recording apparatus in conjunction with the lighting of the light source. The switch is provided with a switch capable of performing a composite operation.

[Operation] When observing the inside of a body or the like using an endoscope, the observation target portion must be illuminated without fail. Therefore, when the light source for performing the illumination is turned on, the operation of the image recording apparatus is started in conjunction therewith, so that the recording can be reliably performed. Here, since the recording medium of the image recording apparatus can be erased and edited like a video tape, when recording is not required, the portion may be erased.

Also, if a switch is provided on the operation unit body,
Since the operation of turning on and off the light source and the operation control of the image recording apparatus can be performed simultaneously by a person who operates the endoscope, the operability is improved.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the overall configuration of the endoscope and its observation system in FIG. 1 is shown. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an endoscope, 10 denotes a control unit, 11 denotes a display device such as a CRT, and 12 denotes an image recording device including a video tape recorder or the like.

The endoscope 1 includes an operation section main body 2, an insertion section 3, and a universal cord 4. As shown in FIG. 2, an illumination window 5 and an observation window 6 are provided at a distal end portion 3a of the insertion portion 3, and a light guide 7 is provided in the illumination window 5.
(Refer to FIG. 7).
As shown in the figure, on the optical axis from the observation window 6, a solid-state imaging device 8 such as a CCD is mounted as an imaging unit for converting an optical image of the observation target part into an electric signal.
The light guide 7 and the cable 9 from the solid-state imaging device 8 extend from the insertion section 3 through the operation section main body 2 into the universal cord 4, and the end of the universal cord 4 is inserted into the light guide insertion section 4a. And cable insertion part
4b, a light guide connector 4c is provided at the end of the light guide insertion portion 4a, and a cable insertion portion 4b
Is provided with a cable connector 4d at the end.

The control unit 10 is provided with connection portions 21 and 22 for the light guide connector 4c and the cable connector 4d. As shown in FIG. 4, a light source lamp 23 is provided inside the control unit 10, and the light source lamp 23 is connected to a main switch 26 connected to a power supply unit 25 via a lamp lighting unit 24. It is connected. The power supplied from the power supply unit 25 is used not only for turning on the light source lamp 23 but also for driving the air supply pump unit 27, the suction pump 28, and the fan 29. Further, the power supply unit 25 also serves as a power supply for driving a video processor 30 for processing a signal from the solid-state imaging device 8 to form a video signal.

When the light guide connector 4c is connected to the connection portion 21 of the control unit 10, the light source lamp 23
Of the light source lamp 23
When is turned on, the illumination light is transmitted to the illumination window 5 by the light guide 7 so that the observation window 5 can illuminate the observation target with the illumination light. When the cable connector 4d is connected to the connection unit 22, the cable 9 from the solid-state imaging device 8 is connected to the video processor 30 to process a signal sent from the solid-state imaging device 8 to form a video signal. You can do it. Therefore, the solid-state imaging device 8 and the video processor 30
Thus, a solid-state imaging device camera for processing an image of the observation target portion is configured.

Then, the video signal thus formed by the solid-state imaging device camera is input to the display device 12, and
12, the image of the observation target part can be projected. The video processor 30 is an image recording device.
12 is also connected, and by mounting a recording medium 31 such as a video tape on the image recording device 12, a video signal from the video processor 30 can be recorded on the recording medium 31. I have.

Further, a switch is provided on the operation unit main body 2 of the endoscope 1.
32 is provided, and the switch 32 is a lamp lighting unit.
The light source lamp 23 is turned on and off by turning on and off the switch 32 connected to the light source 24. The switch 32 is also connected to the image recording device 12 via a timer 33. The image recording device 12 is linked to the light source lamp 23, so that the switch 32 is a composite operation switch that can perform different operations such as turning on the light source and starting recording of the image recording device. That is, when the switch 32 is turned on, first, the light source lamp 23 is turned on, and the operation of the image recording device 12 is started with a delay of the time set by the timer 33 from the turning on of the light source lamp 23, and the image recording device 12 is started. Image data is recorded on the recording medium 31 mounted on the recording medium 12.

This embodiment is configured as described above, and its operation will be described next.

First, while the power of the control unit 10 is turned on by the main switch 26, the power of the display device 11 and the image recording device 12 is also turned on, and the inside of the patient is actually inspected using the endoscope 1. When performing treatment, the switch 32 is turned on, and the light source lamp 24 is turned on. And
The insertion section 3 of the endoscope 1 is inserted into the body via the oral cavity, nasal cavity, and the like, guided to a predetermined observation target portion, and the observation target portion is observed. At this time, illumination from the light source lamp 24 is performed. The light is transmitted to the illumination window 5 via the light guide 7 so that the illumination window 5 can emit illumination light.

Therefore, the optical image projected by the illumination in the observation target portion is incident on the solid-state imaging device 8 through the observation window 6, is photoelectrically converted by the solid-state imaging device 8, and its electric signal is converted. The video signal is transmitted to the control unit 10 via the cable 9 and processed by the video processor 30 provided in the control unit 10 to form a video signal. Then, this video signal is input to the display device 11 and can be reproduced on the display device 11. At the same time, the video signal data is also input to the image recording device 12, so that the video data can be recorded on the recording medium 31 mounted on the image recording device 12. become.

As described above, when the switch 32 attached to the operation unit main body 2 is turned on and the light source lamp 23 is turned on, the operation of the image recording device 12 starts and recording starts. Can be reliably recorded.
Here, when operating the endoscope 1, a light source lamp is used.
In order to extend the life of the light source 23, the light source lamp 23 is turned off until the insertion portion 3 is inserted into the body, and the light source lamp 23 is turned on immediately before the operator performs an operation. Since the light source lamp 23 is usually turned off immediately after the completion of the examination, treatment or the like according to 1, the image recording device 12 is operated in conjunction with the light source lamp 23. As a result, it is possible to minimize the recording of images of unnecessary portions. In addition, after the light source lamp 23 is turned on using the timer 33, the start of the image recording device 12 is delayed by several tens of seconds to several minutes, so that unnecessary data can be further reduced from being recorded. become. Furthermore, the recording medium 31 mounted on the image recording device 12 can be erased like a video tape and can also edit image data. Recording an image does not pose any particular problem.

When the operation of the light source lamp 23 and the operation of the image recording apparatus 12 can be performed by a single switch 32 provided on the operation section main body 2, their operability is improved and the operation section main body is improved. Although the configuration of 2 can be simplified, the switch 32 can be provided on the control unit 10 side.

In the above-described embodiment, the solid-state imaging device 8 constituting the imaging unit of the solid-state imaging device camera is configured to be built in the distal end portion 3a of the insertion unit 3. However, as shown in FIG. In the optical type, an image of the observation target portion is guided from an insertion portion 41 to an operation portion main body 42 by an image guide (not shown), and is formed on an eyepiece 43 attached to the operation portion main body 42. Even in the endoscope 40, an image pickup unit having a built-in solid-state image pickup device is mounted on the eyepiece unit 43, a module 44 is attached, a cable 45 is connected to the image pickup unit module 44, and a control unit 10 is connected to the end of the cable 45. Connector that can be connected to the connection part 22 of
By providing the 46, an imaging system similar to the electronic endoscope described above can be configured. A switch configured in the same manner as the switch 32 described above can be mounted on the imaging unit module 44, or may be provided on the control unit side.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention does not have a configuration in which a switch capable of performing a composite operation is provided, and the operation of this switch is performed in conjunction with the lighting of the light source and the lighting of the light source. As a result, the user can start image data recording on the recording medium of the image recording apparatus, so that a single switch operation enables two different operations of turning on the light source and starting recording image data on the recording medium. In addition to improving the image quality, when the light source is turned on and the image data of the observation target portion is obtained, the image data can be always recorded on the recording medium, and the necessary image data is recorded due to carelessness or the like. This means that recording on the recording medium is started in conjunction with a light source that is normally lit only when necessary, so that unnecessary image data is recorded. This has the effect of minimizing the actual situation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 to 4 show a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an endoscope and a system for controlling and imaging the endoscope, and FIG. 2 is a distal end portion of an insertion portion. Front view of the third
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the imaging system, and FIG. 5 is an external view of an endoscope and an imaging unit showing a second embodiment of the present invention. is there. 1,40: endoscope, 2,42: operation unit main body, 3,41: insertion unit, 5: illumination window, 6: observation window, 8: solid-state imaging device, 10: control unit, 11:
Display device, 12: Image recording device, 23: Light source lamp, 24: Lamp lighting unit, 25: Power supply unit, 30: Video processor, 3
1: recording medium, 32: switch, 33: timer, 44: imaging module.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An illumination window and an observation window are provided at a distal end of an insertion portion of an endoscope, and an optical image of an observation target portion obtained by irradiating illumination light from a light source through the illumination window is observed. The photoelectric conversion by an imaging unit through a window, the electric signal is transmitted to a signal processing unit, and a video signal is formed by the signal processing unit and displayed on a display device, and a recording medium mounted on an image recording device A switch capable of performing a combined operation of turning on the light source and starting recording of image data on a recording medium of the image recording apparatus in conjunction with turning on of the light source. An endoscope imaging system having a configuration.